The Summer Nouvie Went Places
There’s something about the end of summer that makes you stop and look back.
And when we look back at Nouvie’s summer, it’s hard to believe how much happened in just a few months.
There were early mornings loading cases into cars, late nights following up on emails, countless tastings, buyer meetings, pitch competitions, media interviews, events across Chicago, and trips outside the city.
We started Nouvie because we wanted to create a non-alcoholic wine we would actually be excited to drink and serve. This summer, we started to see what happens when that idea grows beyond us.
Nouvie went places.
It entered new rooms, new conversations, new communities, and some pretty unexpected spaces along the way.
Showing Up Everywhere We Could
If there was a theme to this summer, it was showing up.
As founders of a young brand, you quickly learn that so much of building a business happens because you're willing to put yourself in the room, introduce yourself, pour the wine, tell the story, and build the relationship.
So that's exactly what we did.
We participated in the 7th Annual Buyers Event at The Hatchery, sat alongside other CPG leaders at the CPG Executive Dinner hosted by Stord + TriNet, and continued building relationships throughout Chicago's food, beverage, hospitality, wellness, and startup communities.
We connected with founders and innovators through Chicago Innovation, Naturally Chicago, Orion3, and other organizations supporting entrepreneurs and emerging brands.
During TechChicago Week, Nouvie moved throughout the city, from LGBTQ+ Founders Tech Week to Sports Tech Week, putting us in rooms where conversations about entrepreneurship, innovation, culture, and the future were happening.
And somewhere between all of those meetings, introductions, tastings, and follow-ups, something started to shift.
We weren't just introducing Nouvie anymore.
People were beginning to recognize it.
Taking Nouvie Beyond Chicago
Chicago will always be an important part of the Nouvie story. It’s where we launched, where we've built some of our earliest relationships, and where we've been able to see firsthand how consumers respond to what we're creating.
But this summer also gave us opportunities to take Nouvie beyond our home market.
We traveled to New England, introducing the brand to new people, meeting with potential partners, and beginning conversations about what future growth in the region could look like.
There is still work to do and conversations happening, but getting Nouvie into a new market and starting to build those relationships was an exciting step.
More than anything, it reinforced something we've believed from the beginning.
The way people drink is changing everywhere.
Consumers still want the ritual of pouring a glass of wine. They still want something elevated at dinner. They still want to toast a milestone or celebrate with friends.
They're simply looking for more choices in how they do it.
Wellness Became a Big Part of Our Summer
One of the most exciting things we've learned while building Nouvie is that our community extends far beyond people specifically looking for "non-alcoholic wine."
Nouvie fits naturally into a much larger conversation around balance, wellness, moderation, and intentional choices.
We saw that firsthand at Faces of Fitness, where Nouvie participated as the exclusive non-alcoholic wine partner, giving us the opportunity to share the brand with thousands of people during one of the country's largest fitness and wellness festivals.
It was one of those weekends that made the opportunity in front of us feel very real.
People were exercising, connecting, discovering brands, enjoying Chicago, and having a great time. Nouvie could simply be part of that experience.
We also partnered with Bentley Chicago for a wellness event that brought together luxury, lifestyle, and intentional living in a completely different setting.
Those experiences reinforced something important for us.
Nouvie isn't only for the person who doesn't drink.
It's for the person training for something tomorrow. The person taking a night off. The person who wants one alcoholic glass and then wants to switch. The person thinking more intentionally about wellness. And, of course, the person who simply doesn't want alcohol at all.
That's the bigger world we believe Nouvie can live in.
We Found Ourselves in Sports, Too
Sports became another unexpected and exciting part of Nouvie's summer.
At Road America, we saw the Nouvie name represented on a professional race car driver's helmet.
There have been moments in professional sports where Nouvie has been poured as part of the celebration, giving athletes and others in the room another way to participate in the traditional toast.
Seeing Nouvie in those environments has been incredibly meaningful because it brings our mission to life.
Celebration doesn't have to automatically mean alcohol.
There can be another option on the table, in the locker room, or at the finish line that still feels worthy of the moment.
And yes, Nouvie also found its way into plenty of quintessential Chicago summer moments, from dinners and rooftops to afternoons on the water.
It has been surreal watching a product we created start becoming part of how other people celebrate.
We Pitched. A Lot.
There was also another major theme this summer: pitching.
Nouvie participated in the WBDC Top Shelf 2026 Cohort, the WBENC Pitch IMPACT Product Competition, and the Wintrust Business Spotlight Pitch Competition.
We were also selected to participate in the CMAA Foodpreneur Pitch Competition Accelerator, giving us another opportunity to strengthen the business, learn from industry experts, and continue refining how we position Nouvie for growth.
These programs and competitions weren't just opportunities to pitch. They pushed us to look more closely at every part of the business and get clearer about the company we're building.
Why Nouvie?
Why now?
And why do we believe this brand has the potential to become something much bigger?
The answer continues to come back to the same thing.
Consumer behavior is changing.
People aren't necessarily choosing between drinking and not drinking anymore. They're choosing based on the occasion, how they want to feel, what they're doing tomorrow, or simply what they want in that moment.
But their expectations haven't disappeared.
They still care about taste. They still care about quality. They still want the experience of wine.
That's the space we're building Nouvie for: premium de-alcoholized wine that actually tastes like wine, with lower sugar, lower calories, and less than 0.5% ABV.
The more we told that story this summer, the more confident we became in the opportunity ahead.
More People Started Hearing Our Story
We weren't only telling that story in pitch rooms.
This summer, we had opportunities to share Nouvie through iHeartRadio, On and Off Podcast (Beverage Dynamics & Cheers), and The Whitney Reynolds Show at The J. Parker.
Every conversation allowed us to talk about entrepreneurship, building a consumer brand from the ground up, and what we're seeing happen in the non-alcoholic category.
It also gave us an opportunity to explain something that is important to us.
Nouvie has never been about telling people they shouldn't drink.
It's about giving people another choice.
One that can sit on the same dinner table, be poured into the same wine glass, and feel just as worthy of the occasion.
Then There Was Everything You Didn't See
Social media captures a lot of the exciting parts of building Nouvie.
The events. The tastings. The beautiful glasses. The partnerships. The race track. The celebrations.
But some of the most important work of the summer happened when no one was watching.
We worked through distribution, pricing, production, logistics, inventory, retail strategy, and future market expansion.
We continued through the NMSDC Minority Business Certification process and participated in YEP mentoring and capacity-building workshops.
There were introductions that led somewhere immediately and others we're still nurturing.
There were emails that needed a second follow-up. And a third.
There were yeses.
There were nos.
And there were plenty of not yets.
That's building a startup.
The exciting moments give you energy, but the work between those moments is what actually builds the company.
What We'll Remember About This Summer
When we look back at this summer, we could measure it by how many events we attended, how many pitches we made, how many people tasted Nouvie, or how many miles we traveled.
But those probably won't be the things we remember most.
We'll remember watching someone taste Nouvie for the first time and being genuinely surprised that it was non-alcoholic.
We'll remember sharing Nouvie with thousands of people at Faces of Fitness.
We'll remember seeing our name on a professional race car driver's helmet.
We'll remember walking into rooms where almost no one knew Nouvie and leaving with new relationships.
We'll remember the buyers who gave us a chance, the mentors who challenged us, the partners who believed there was something we could build together, and every person who poured Nouvie for someone else and helped introduce our brand to someone new.
Because that's what this summer really felt like.
Nouvie started as a product we wanted to exist. Now, we're watching it become a brand people are beginning to recognize, experience, share, and make part of their own moments.
And that's pretty incredible.
Summer may be ending, but we're heading into fall with more momentum, more relationships, more opportunities, and an even bigger belief in what Nouvie can become.
There is still so much work ahead.
But for just a moment, we're raising a glass to how far we've come.
Cheers to an incredible summer. And cheers to what's next.
Raise a Glass With Us
We couldn't have had a summer like this without the people who have tasted Nouvie, shared it, poured it, posted it, recommended it, and cheered us on along the way.
So, as we say goodbye to summer, we're raising a glass with you.
Enjoy 10% off your Nouvie order with code SUMMERSIP.
Whether you're already a Nouvie fan or have been waiting to try your first glass, there's never been a better time to join us.
Cheers to what we built this summer and everything still to come.
